Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Flu Shot Might Not Have Been Effective After Rituxan

Below is a news story which was discussed a year ago. I didn't really pay that much attention to it then because my rheumatologist insisted that I get my vaccines before I started Rituxan.

Then this year with the knowledge that the flu vaccine might not be effective in the months following a Rituxan infusion, I waited for four months (following the May/June infusions) to get mine in October.

It was odd. The flu vaccine felt like nothing was really even in the shot. My body didn't seem to react to it at all. Not even a stuffy nose and for previous years, I always seemed to get a little sick following the flu shot. Not this year.

Well, now I think that I am an example of the Rituxan patients in the study who didn't gain full benefit of the flu shot. I was at the doctor's office yesterday with a 101.3 temperature after the "train" ran me over and came back to punch me a few times for good measure.

Official diagnosis - the flu. My doctor offered some antivirals which I said that I would love to have. So Tamiflu is on board right now as my immune system needs the help.

I'm not sure who exactly spread this little bug to me. At first I was going to blame Rob when it seemed I might be getting sick as he had a nasty cold last week. But then, it may be that one of my students passed this onto me this past Monday or Tuesday. I do recall at least one specific individual who was obviously "drippy."

My doctor did say that something was going around in our area which involved high fevers for a few days. I think that my fever (which showed up Wednesday night) finally broke last night as I sweated through my pj's and sheets. [Update: I'm still achieving high temps on Sunday. This is a doosy of a bug.]

You know how we talk about MS acting up with our body temps go up, well I definitely felt it yesterday for sure. That is also one reason I went to the doctor - I could hardly walk straight or trust the strength in my arms. I couldn't think straight either.

At least my head is clear today. I'm hoping that we caught this early enough that the Tamiflu will help. In the meantime, I'm trying to down lots of liquids which is hard to do when I don't feel thirsty.

I hope that everybody else is avoiding the flu this year. Stay healthy.

ScienceDaily (Jan. 7, 2010) — Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients are partially protected by the influenza vaccine 6-10 months after treatment with rituximab. Researchers determined that while the flu vaccine is safe, it is ineffective for RA patients in the first 6 months following rituximab treatment. Previous influenza vaccination in rituximab-treated patients does increase pre- and post-vaccination titers, providing some defense to influenza strains. RA activity was not influenced by administration of the flu vaccine.

Complete findings of this study are available in the January 2010 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology.

RA, a common autoimmune disease, affects 4.6 million individuals worldwide and more than half of those diagnosed are woman, according to a 2000 report on global incidence by the World Health Organization (WHO). Patients with RA are immunocompromised, meaning their immune systems do not function normally, putting them at increased risk of infection. Due to a compromised immune system, doctors advise RA patients to get vaccinated each year against influenza including the new H1N1 virus.

Sander van Assen, M.D. and colleagues from the University Medical Center Groningen in The Netherlands conducted the largest study to date of the effectiveness of the flu vaccine in RA patients using rituximab. Three groups of patients were enrolled in the study: 23 RA patients using rituximab, 20 RA patients taking methotrexate (MTX), and 29 healthy individuals. Those patients taking rituximab were split into two groups with 11 who received the influenza vaccine 4-8 weeks after treatment with rituximab (early rituximab subgroup), and 12 individuals who were given the flu shot 6-10 months post-treatment with the drug (late rituximab subgroup). Influenza vaccines were administered intramuscularly between October 2007 and January 2008.

Researchers tested geometric mean titers (GMTs) for each group and found they significantly increased for all influenza strains in the MTX-treated group and in healthy controls, but for none of the influenza strains in the rituximab-treated group. In the late rituximab subgroup, a rise in GMT was noted for the A/H3N2 and seasonal A/H1N1 flu strains indicating some recovery of an immune response 6-10 months after treatment by rituximab. Also less rituximab-treated patients reached levels of antibodies needed for protection against influenza for the A/H3N2 and seasonal A/H1N1 when compared with MTX-treated patients, and for the seasonal A/H1N1 when compared with healthy individuals.

Results further showed that healthy individuals vaccinated the year before showed higher baseline GMT for the A/H3N2 strain than unvaccinated health controls. In the MTX group, higher baseline antibodies were noted for the seasonal A/H1N1 and B strains in previously vaccinated patients compared with unvaccinated subjects. For the Rituximab group, patients previously vaccinated not only had a higher baseline GMT, but also a higher post-vaccination GMT for the seasonal A/H1N1 than patients who were not vaccinated the prior year.

The safety of the flu vaccine was also tested by researchers and found to be safe. There were no differences noted between the 3 groups in the occurrence of side effects from the vaccination. Researchers determined that RA activity was not influenced by the flu vaccine and used the disease activity (DAS28) score prior to vaccination and at 7 and 28 post-vaccination to assess RA activity in patients in the MTX and rituximab groups.

"Individuals who have compromised immune systems, such as with RA, are at risk for complications from contracting the flu virus," said Dr. van Assen. "We recommend yearly influenza vaccination for all RA patients and preemptive vaccination for flu should be considered by those patients who start rituximab treatment."

Join Me at iConquerMS.org

Most recent posts appear first. Medical information is current as of the date of publication. Any updates to information will be similarly dated. Nothing here should be taken as medical advice. Always consult with your physician when making personal medical decisions.

Top Five Simple Actions You Can Do For Your MS

1. Eat healthy2. Exercise any part of your body that you can3. Reach out to people, family, friends, strangers4. Discover YOU. What makes you laugh? What are your fears? What is fun?5. Laugh, educate your fears into remission, have fun!

Books, Videos

"To know one can live with MS and RA and STILL do all you do---a true inspiration. You are the glue that holds MSers together in the blog world."- Diane, A Stellarlife

"[Brass and Ivory] is a pillar of the Multiple Sclerosis blogging community and gives some wonderful policy info besides as she investigates a very practical problem, why are medications so @#$%! expensive. She is a great writer and runs the MS blogging carnival."

- Doc, Mind, Body, and Soul

"Lisa claims to be only a professional musician but I've been in this business for 35 years and I have to say she has a lot to contribute on the issue of health care policy."- Robert Laszewski, Health Policy and Marketplace Review

"Kudos to Lisa Emrich for consistently producing high level analyses of living with disability."- Zagreus Ammon, The Physician Executive

"Brass and Ivory is widely regarded as one of the premiere sites not only for information on MS but, perhaps even more so, as providing tremendous insight on living with a disability - Lisa is a terrific writer."

- Abel Pharmboy, Terra Sigillata

"Some people are brave, some strong, and sometimes they write well, too. You might consider this interesting blogger who posts on the hows and whens of telling other people about not-so-obvious physical problems. I'd say it would take trust to do that, and guts. Check this one out at Brass and Ivory. Excellent, excellent post."- TherapyDoc, Everyone Needs Therapy

"I have come to grow very fond of Lisa. She is very passionate about the topics she writes about and is not afraid to voice her opinion. This is one tough lady I am telling you...and Lisa has a kick butt list of all the MS blogs you never knew existed until now. Her site is full of information and support. So do go visit. You will be glad you did." - unnamed